Pirates row strong at SD Crew Classic
SAN DIEGO -- The Orange Coast College women's crew put forth some of their best races of the year at Sunday's 2014 San Diego Crew Classic.
Racing against some of the top four-year programs in the nation, Coast competed in three races and came home with second-, third- and fifth-place honors.
In the Grand Final of the Women's DII/DIII/Club race, OCC's Varsity 8 (Zoe Roble, Marissa Selby, Madison Kohlenberger, Arielle Craig, Katie McKibbin, Torrie Miraldi, Stacey Gama, Jaime Huie and coxswain Leah Simko) went out strong and finished fifth out of 16 schools with a time of 7 minutes, 33.82 seconds.
In a season, where UC San Diego and the University of San Diego have been particularly strong, the Pirates managed to outlast both of those top California programs in Sunday's race. USD finished sixth with a 7:34.39, while UCSD (7:38.53) finished seventh.
"We haven't been able to beat either one of those schools, so to be able to do that on Sunday, under crazy-windy conditions, was great to see," head coach Laura Behr said of her team.
In the Varsity 4 Grand Final, the Pirate foursome of Kara Ramsey, Becca Morris Alex Coultrup, Hannah Grunbaum and coxswain Haley Lutton finished third out of eight boats with a time of 8:36.6, trailing only UCSD (8:23.24) and Central Oklahoma (8:31.87).
In the Novice 8 Grand Final, Coast battled UCSD right down to the finish line before settling for second place in the eight-boat final, posting a time of 8:02.52, just under five seconds behind the Tritons' time of 7:57.93.
The Pirates will once again take to the waters of the Newport Harbor to compete in the 2014 Collins Cup, beginning at 7 a.m.
